We generally don't acknowledge Memphis here. People from around here will firmly and politely correct you if you mention you like Tennessee. We're not from Tennessee. We're from East Tennessee.

And I stand by my original theory, based on fairly thorough research.

In Southern Appalachia (Eastern KY, East TN, SW VA, and Western NC) the HD was seen as a needless extravagance that could accomplish nothing a considerably less expensive Military and Police could. We had no gangsters shooting up banks in these parts, and no real need for a pistol that could shoot through cars. The few peace officers that carried N-frames carried .44s (interestingly, a LOT of "company men" as the coal company security people were sometimes called seemed to be VERY fond of .44 Specials in the Depression era) or surplus 1917s, and the vast majority carried K-frame .38s and .32-20s.

The reason I have only seen 2 HDs and one OD in the wild in 23 years is they simply didn't sell to the cash-strapped hill folk.